My Black Journey

We already know about McDonald's 365Black campaign, a marketing strategy that targets solely black consumers to take advantage of the numerous opportunities and programs created specically for them under the Golden Arches:

Amtrak goes after the black market

At McDonald's®, we believe that African-American culture and achievement should be celebrated 365 days a year — not just during Black History Month. That's the idea behind 365Black.com. It's a place where you can learn more about education, employment, career advancement and entrepreneurship opportunities, and meet real people whose lives have been touched by McDonald's.

You probably are aware of American Airline's Black Atlas, which offers travel tips to potentially black travelers (solely black travelers) who will be purchasing tickets and heading to particular destination the airline travels to:

A unique online community that offers travel insights from an African-American perspective.

 Now, fresh off of learning that Amtrak is basically a "people of color" jobs-program on wheels (40 percent of the 20,000 employees are "people of color") comes the news that, like McDonald's and American Airline's, it has a marketing strategy aimed squarely at black consumers. My Black Journey doesn't have a "about us" feature, but the Web site touts trips to Historically Black College and University (HBCU) football games; Family Reunions (black people love these events); and girlfriend escapes.

American Airlines: A true black experience? Check out Detroit!

The girls of Sex and the City, were they to take a weekend trip, would just jump on a plane; taking Amtrak is much cheaper and target marketing that's segmented to the black consumer might make since in this case, considering your median net worth of a single black female is $5 dollars.

Hard to get a plane ticket with that amount of money in your bank account, even if American Atlas Black Atlas subsidizes the ticket. But hey, that $5 dollars goes a long way at the McDonald's 365Black dollar value menu.

It should be pointed out that My Black Journey (powered by Amtrak) targets interesting "destinations" that are increasingly appeal to only black travelers: Detroit, Birmingham, Atlanta, Memphis, New Orleans, Orlando, New York City, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Baltimore.

These cities are... blessed with high populations of black people. It's cheaper to move large groups of black people (think black families traversing great distances to pick up the latest version of the highly-sought after "family reunion"shirt) via train instead of plane, so let's give Amtrak the benefit of the doubt in their My Black Journey marketing tactics.

But there is an interesting destination in the My Black Journey list of target destinations for black people that seems woefully out of place: Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, the self-proclaimed "Waterpark Capital of the World."

A town of just under 3,000 people (97 percent white), Wisconsin Dells is the tourist destination for water enthusiasts. Recall that in "No Dr. King, Your Daughter Can't go to Funtown," we learned that Martin Luther King lamented that his daughter wasn't allowed to go to an amusement park because she was black.

McDonald's campaign offers a look into the marketing strategy of the managerial elite

Since the lifting of segregation, an untold number of businesses, parks, resorts, malls, playgrounds, entire sections of cities (many of those same cities that are listed as destinations on the My Black Journey site), and amusement parks have either closed, imposed curfews, been rebuilt elsewhere (for cities, think the white suburbs), abandoned, or become off-limits because of the new freedom giving to blacks.

There is no need to even point out the double-standards in the marketing strategy of McDonald's, American Airlines, or Amtrak's black-centric marketing campaign; there is no need to point out that if a company were to solely target the white consumer (which would make good business sense, considering the purchasing power of this group and credit at their disposal), it would immediately be denounced, sued, harassed with Alinsky-style "proxy attacks," and instantly become the pariah of the business community; no, all we can do is point and laugh at yet another company pursuing the stated goals of nation dedicated to the never-ending uplifting of that one group of people.

Black-Run America (BRA) has many corporate sponsors. In time, more of these corporations will jump on the target market bandwagon that McDonald's, Amtrak, and American Airlines have joyously joined.

Were a traveler interested in seeing the true impact of black Americans on the nation, they'd merely jump on Amtrak (or perhaps book on American Airlines) and travel to those destinations profiled on My Black Journey. The state of Detroit, Birmingham, Baltimore, Memphis... a perfect representation of what happens when a city goes 365Black.

Going to 90 percent black Detroit, or 72 percent black Birmingham, or 64 percent black Baltimore, or 67 percent black Memphis is your opportunity to stamp your passport to the true black experience of America.

Don't forget your gun!